Line by Line - Verse 29, Line 11

Hence the sage puts away excessive effort, extravagance, and easy indulgence.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

Therefore the sage avoids extremes, excesses, and complacency.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

Therefore the sage:
Eliminates extremes
Eliminates excess
Eliminates arrogance
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

A Master lives simply,
avoiding extravagance and excess.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

To close out this verse, let's take a look at 3 comments as quoted in Red Pine's book.

Wang An-Shih: Resting where you are eliminates extremes. Treasuring simplicity eliminates extravagance. Being content with less eliminates excess.

Lu Nung-Shih: The sages gets rid of extremes with kindness. He gets rid of extravagance with simplicity. He gets rid of excess with humility. By means of these three, the sage governs the world.

Hsueh Hui: What Lao-tzu means by "extremes," "extravagance," and "excess" is not what people mean nowadays. The Sage means whatever involves an increase in effort beyond what is easy.

To view the Index page for this series to see what you may have missed or would like to read again, go here.